


Properties of Magic Don't Apply

by glass_flamenco



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Fluff, Multi, Slow Build, asahi/noya - Freeform, magical au, mentions other ships like, shimizu/yachi, some violence, suga/daichi - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-04
Updated: 2016-03-15
Packaged: 2018-05-11 20:14:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 14,215
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5640466
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/glass_flamenco/pseuds/glass_flamenco
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hinata: a powerful mage with little (well, no) control over his magic. </p>
<p>Kageyama: a self-assured speller with a temper.</p>
<p>Enter: werewolves; demons; spells and charms; a world where magic has rules but makes no sense; fantastic creatures and impossible sights. </p>
<p>These two could either make something amazing or just blow everything up. It's a pretty thin line.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Based on this fabulous AU by Rynenzion on Tumblr (http://rynezion.tumblr.com/tagged/magical+au)
> 
> Please give me feedback because right now in my head the plot's going a thousand different ways.
> 
> Also, first chapter is mostly world building.

“Do you see it, Shoyo?”

In his deepest memories, he can still call upon the soft light that blanketed his room, the smell of lilies and juniper that enveloped him as his mother tucked him in, soothing his fears of monsters and demons as she did so. Her voice, always so gentle, guided his eyes to the chain in her hand.

From it dangled a sun shaped from iron and ivory, catching the candle’s gleam. But no, that wasn’t the candlelight shining off of it; a shimmer followed every curve of the metal, tracing the inscription on the inside like starlight.

“It’s pretty,” young him murmured, already half asleep. He sighed as his mother reached around his neck to clasp the chain behind it, letting the pendant rest against his chest. He felt the restless stirrings inside him muffle a bit, like a lid on a bottle of thunder. Contained, not tamed.

“It is,” she agreed, caressing his cheek. He wasn’t for sure, but her eyes might have been sad, if perhaps worried. “Wear it with you always, Shoyo. And when the world is cruel and your heart hurts, just touch it.” She leaned in close as his eyes drifted off, her hand warm, always so warm, and kissed his head. “And always remember. Your light is strongest…”

“…In the darkest of nights,” Hinata muttered as he stirred awake, blinking at the fresh sunlight peeking through the holes in his tent. He stretched and shook the sleep from his face, rubbing his cheeks as he withdrew from his roll.

Outside the crisp air made the hair on his arms raise up and his breath gather in front of him. Frost still clung to grass under the shade of the great oak tree he had taken refuge under, and he quickly donned his mittens and oversized shawl to stop his shivering.

Hinata took a deep breath in and smiled as a pair of songbirds quarreled at each other, whistling to them and giving a small wave.

The birds screeched and flew off as the branch was now aflame, licking at the bark with little success. Hinata nearly jumped out of his skin and immediately reached back into his poorly constructed tent to grab his staff, cursing himself under his breath, racing back to put it out to find the flames already gone, the bark untouched.

How many years had it been since his father had carved him this staff? Too long, he thought as he snatched his bag and headed for the river to fill his drinking skin and wash up. And he _knew_ how eager his essence was first thing in the morning to set whatever he could on fire, he should know by now to just wrap his staff to his hand at night to skip these daily misfires.

Now in a bad mood, Hinata knelt by the river, taking off his mittens to hold his hands up to his mouth. Closing his eyes he focused on the space around his hands, willing the air to—

A small chipmunk scampered down to grab at a misplaced nut, its form fluffy and soft. Hinata shifted his attention to it to admire its cute cheeks when the air between his hands snapped with static. At once the water nearest to him started bubbling, and the frogs and fish hanging in the sundrenched waters floated up to the surface.

Hinata blanched and hung his head, knotting his fingers through his unruly hair and biting back a scream of frustration. Two accidents in one morning? It was worse than usual, and reluctantly Hinata drew in the three fish and two frogs he had just murdered, figuring he might as well get a decent meal and then some.

Hinata finished washing himself (finding the water now warm, almost uncomfortably so) and combing through his hair, taking back his catch to clean and gut. When it came to the frogs, he faltered.  Hinata had never eaten anything on them besides their legs and for a few minutes, as his fish crackled over the small fire he had thrown together, he stared hard into the frog’s dead eyes. 

“I’m very sorry, Mr. Bumps. I didn’t mean to kill you, I promise. To be honest I never really liked your legs, they’re just so stringy and taste like some moss I once licked because I thought it was a kind of pudding but boy was I wrong—”

A loud boom in the distance cut him off and instantly his skin was tingling. A sense of danger spurred him into throwing out the frogs and salting the fish for later, wrapping them up and stowing them in the side pouch of his tunic.

With a tilt of his staff the fire dyed out and his tent easily rolled up and strapped onto his bag, which he then hoisted onto his back. With another look to the distance Hinata started walking, enjoying the smell of the breeze on his face.

~

Hinata may have been a lone traveler, but that did not stop him from talking and laughing and smiling along his walks. His pace was always changing as something caught his eye, speeding up and slowing down so he could listen to the water of the brook running over smooth stones or to watch a squirrel dig up its stored nuts.

Along the way he would recite what little of the Runic he could recall, rolling the syllables around on his tongue and imagining the effects the spell might have; but not too strongly, and he made sure to keep his mind busy as not to dwell on one thing at a time. As much as magic was influenced by emotion, so to was it by thoughts and images in the head. 

Hinata wasn’t surprised when the nearest bush next to him suddenly starts shaking and its budding leaves turn bright pink, making a strange, popping sound as it does so. At least it wasn’t uprooting itself and chasing him down the road like last time.

Ever since he was a child, his magic had been out of control. Snow in the kitchen, farm dogs turning into sheep, furniture suddenly levitating and turning to stone; once for a full moon Hinata could only speak in meows and snarls, which thoroughly frightened his mother enough to pay a visit to the local witch for treatment.

Up until he was eight his magic was kept in check by a necklace his mother had given him. But as he grew so did his powers, and soon the necklace was useless save for its sentimental value. It was then that his father, a respected weaver of the village, crafted him his staff.

Not many mages or apprentices needed staffs, so Hinata was told. They were eclectic, tools long replaced and cherished only by traditionalists and priests. But Hinata was a difficult pupil to teach, and his magic fluctuated with his attention; the staff was made with the rarest wood to find and the lining of a wyvern’s stomach, along with a single drop of Hinata’s blood.

“It’s going to…‘eat’ your magic, Shoyo,” his father had explained, sitting Hinata on his knee and holding the staff gingerly in one hand. The wood was a dark, glossy brown, almost black, and had swirls and concentric patterns carved into it. The top was carved into a circle, the staff’s body almost cutting it in half. “And when it’s full, you’ll have to empty it out so it can eat again.”

Indeed, Hinata felt connected to his staff in a way that not many could understand. He wandered through numerous villages and towns for unwary onlookers to touch it out of curiosity only to get burnt or turn white with shock. It was almost always warm, and when Hinata was genuinely angry—a state he didn’t achieve often—the engravings would glow like embers rising on a dark night sky.

His pendant was now useless, and honestly somewhat ridiculous hanging around his neck underneath his clothes, but he kept it nonetheless, grabbing it when he felt homesick.

He was surprised when he stumbled upon the fishing village; he had been through this way before, nearly a year ago, and remembered only a cluster of shacks and houses on the water’s edge. Now it had a dedicated road leading to it and a small populace milling about their daily chores. The air here smelled salty and smoky, and fishy, obviously.

Hinata smiled to himself as a group of children ran by him, chittering and giggling. His stomach growled and he found a spot in the center of town by the well  where a few vendors had set up shop, pulling the fish out of his pocket and eating them, amusing himself by people watching.

He wondered if there was a new speller in town, now that it had grown. He doubted it, failing to see how any mage could flourish in a small fishing village like this one, and decided if anything he could at least find more yarn and possibly some preserves. Food had been a little scarce coming his way, and more than once he went to bed hungry and made meals of only berries or wild onions.

Hinata finished his fish and shook out the handkerchief, standing and preparing to ask around to see if anyone could sell him cloth when someone spat at him.

Hinata whipped around, startled, static snapping at his fingers as he kept his breathing in check. An older man, his beard scraggly and hands gnarled as a wizened tree, was flanked by two others. Hinata noticed that they were tall, muscular and not smiling at all. The older man curled his lip, eyes looking Hinata up and down as though he were a stray dog.

“You should move along, black hand,” he hissed, hand dangling near the knife in his belt. Hinata bristled at the insult and took a step back from the force of his voice. The other two sneered and also spat at his feet. A small crown gathered outside what Hinata assumed was a tavern and his face turned red.

“I-I’m just passing through,” he insisted, keeping his tone steady. “I need to trade a few things and then I’ll leave—”

“You’ll leave now, spell scum.” One of the men said lowly. He sounded fierce but Hinata saw a glint of fear in his eye. “We’ve had enough of your kind.”

“I’m not here to hurt anyone—”

“We said go!” The older man yelled, lunging forward to grab his wrist and pulling him away from the well harshly, only to send him tumbling forward onto his hands and knees, staff clattering to the ground next to him.

Hinata panicked and grabbed for it, flinching when the feel of a clammy boots stomped down on his hand to stop him.

“No ya don’t, mage,” he said with venom, grinding his heel into Hinata’s skin. Hinata cried out in pain and then everything happened at once.

A strange noise started coming behind them, and they turned to the well, Hinata still on the ground. The noise grew until it resembled the roar of a storm and the water came shooting out the top of the well, flying into the air in an arc. At the same time the numerous dead fish hanging in baskets and nets started wiggling and flopping around, knocking over crates and barrels into the dock’s bay. Some grew wings and started flying through the air, frightening those around them.

The water rose up and hung in the air like a cloud for a moment; at once it all flew at the men above Hinata, pelting their skin so hard he could hear the impact, like coins hitting leather. The water kept rising and falling as the men yelled and crouched down, finally releasing Hinata’s hand.

He snatched his staff and closed his eyes, feeling the magic in his veins rampaging out of control, seeping out of him and bypassing the staff, clogging the air like smoke.

_No, no, no!_ Hinata’s eyes squeezed hard and he gripped his staff with white-knuckle force, trying to call it all back, _please come back, please._

“Tch,” he heard and the water’s roaring stopped, the men stopped screaming, and the constant buzz of magic in the air ceased. In a second Hinata felt all his essence return to him quickly if not gently, channeling into his hands and staff like water down a drain.

His eyes snapped open to see the crowd staring in shocked silence not at him, but past him. The men behind him growled something and ran off, red welts on their skin. Hinata breathed out and jumped again when a voice sounded behind him.

“What the hell was that, dumbass?”

Hinata turned to meet a pair of eyes that cut like ice and a scowl that could make a feral dog turn tail. He was tall, and towered over Hinata even as his palms glowed with wispy blue essence. Hinata shrank back.

“I, uh, who are you?”

“Were you trying to hurt them?” The other ignored his stuttered question, eyes still fixed on him like he was a target. When Hinata blinked, confused, he bared his teeth and stepped forward threateningly. “Hey, short shit, I asked you something. Did you. Try. To hurt them?”

“N-no!” Hinata’s voice cracked, anger starting to seep through. “It was an accident! I didn’t want to start anything, I swear! I just,” he faltered as the other man’s frown deepened.

“You’re saying that you did all that on accident?”

Hinata flushed at the disbelief in his tone. “I can call it back, usually,” he added ruefully. “I was just—they scared me and wouldn’t let me carry my staff…”

The taller one’s eyes analyzed his staff, one eyebrow raising. “You actually need a staff to keep yourself in check? That’s pathetic.”

Hinata had heard enough insults for the day and started a retort when another group approached them, all armed.

“Both of you, leave,” one man ordered, the rest of the group at his back and terrified. “You black hands have done enough, haven’t you?”

Hinata opened his mouth to argue but the sight of a small girl tearfully clutching at her mother’s skirts made him nod, an apology dying on his tongue. The taller of the two shrugged and turned away, walking easy.

Hinata followed a few steps behind, cooling off as they distanced the village. Now that he wasn’t surrounded by people who wanted to hang him he reflected on how quickly this guy had reverse his accidental spell and reigned in his essence with a snap of his fingers.

Well, he hadn’t seen him snap any fingers, but the thought was there.

“Hey,” he called out. The other stopped and turned towards him.

“What, you’re still following me?” He asked, sounding bored.

“How did you do that? Call back my magic, I mean.”

He shrugged again. “Anyone with a shred of training can, I assume. What’s your excuse?”

“There weren’t any mages in my town when I was young. And no one wanted me as an apprentice because,” he cut himself off.

“Because you suck.”

Hinata felt like hitting this guy. “I have no control,” he got out through gritted teeth. “Who trained you?”

The other’s face, which for the majority of their discussion had been a stoic slate of indifference, twitched. “Self-taught. Mostly.”

“So, if you’re self-taught, you could teach others?”

Steely blue eyes narrowed and he turned away. “No.”

“Wait! I didn’t even ask anything yet!”

“No,” he repeated, walking away with his hands in his pockets.

“But if you taught me a few tricks—”

“They’re not tricks.”

“—and on the way I learn to control my magic—”

“Fat chance on that.”

“—then maybe I wouldn’t be a constant threat to everyone!” Hinata yelled the last bit and stopped the black-haired mage in his tracks. “Maybe I could actually stay in an inn instead of sleeping out in the rain, or play with my baby sister without fear of setting her toys on fire, or, or,” at the end his eyes were gathering tears.

The stranger speller watched it all, seemingly nonplussed. “I’m not a mentor. I couldn’t teach you anything anyway.”

Hinata sniffed, wiping his nose on his tunic. “How d’ya know if you never try?”

Thin lips turned up in a smirk. “There’s no way I could take on a dumbass like you.”

That was it. In a flash Hinata careened into him and they were on the ground, fisting the other’s dark cloak in his hand and trapping him between his knees. “You asshole! You can’t even give me a chance? You’re just afraid I’ll be _better_ than you!”

“Ha!” He let out a jarring laugh and easily surged up, throwing the smaller off of him. Hinata tumbled to the ground for the second time that day. “You’re an idiot, there’s no way—” His voice caught he was staring at Hinata’s chest. Confused, Hinata glanced down and saw his pendant had fallen out of his under shirt by all the movement.

“Where did you get that?” Kageyama asked quietly. Hinata frowned, tucking it back away.

“My mother gave it to me. Why?”

The other remained silent, eyes searching for something. Finally, “Have you ever been to Nakka City?”  

“Uh, I don’t think so.” Hinata got up, brushing himself off and still frowning.

“There’s a mentor there. Master Ukai. I've heard he can train anyone.” The gold circle at the top of his ear glinted in the light as he scratched a spot on his neck. “Maybe I could keep you from blowing yourself up until you get there.”

Hinata perked up. “Wait, really? You mean it?”

“Would I offer if I didn’t mean it?”

Hinata stayed quiet, observing him. This guy was obviously an adept speller, if the magic Hinata saw earlier was anything to go by; but man did that smirk down at him and condescending tone rub him the wrong way. Hinata bit his lip, thinking.

“Well?” The other asked impatiently. Hinata sighed.

“Okay. Let’s go to Nakka.”

The taller nodded his agreement and started off. Hinata followed, a step away from him.

“I’m Hinata, by the way.”

A terse second followed, and then, “Kageyama.”

  

             

  


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kageyama learns about birds.

If Hinata had to describe Kageyama in one word, it would be “Tch.”

The sound he made almost every ten minutes, because Hinata says something about every ten minutes and Kageyama has to reply with something and apparently “Tch” is a very versatile phrase. In all honesty, it doesn’t bother Hinata too much because he’s been traveling on his own for so long it was kind of novel to have someone else with him even if they were as talkative as a face carved into a plank of wood.

Actually, Hinata once had such a companion, and Sir Splinter had offered up much better conversation.   

Frankly, even Hinata will admit that a lot of what he says is useless observation and declarations of “Wow that sky is pretty today” or “Hm, need to patch my trousers” or something of equal caliber.

But when he asks something he considers worthy of a response, and Kageyama just goes “Tch” with his tongue, he gets irritated. So he says something more, and then Kageyama says something back, and soon they’re arguing.  

(“Were-fish don’t exist, dumbass!”

“Why not? If there are werewolves and werecats then why not were- _fish_?!”

“Because who the _fuck_ would want to be a _fish?!_ ”)

Soon Hinata learns that spans of silence are required for Kageyama to cool off before Hinata can safely talk more. His gaze flickers up to the branches above them with leaves fighting to grow and flower buds starting. The frost that morning had been light and gone rather quickly, and the breeze carried warm scents on it.

Hinata sighed happily and drew Kageyama’s attention.

“You’ve been humming for a while,” he noted.

“Oh,” Hinata realized he had been humming a tune from a festival his hometown would host every year at the start of spring. “Sorry.”

Kageyama shrugged, another thing that was becoming familiar. “It wasn’t totally terrible.”

It’s almost as if he were trying to ruffle Hinata’s feathers. He resisted the bait and got back to watching the birds mill about, thinking of home. He wondered if his younger sister was keeping up on her knitting and studies, if his mother remembered to start the seeds for their garden.

A small red-breasted bird sat on a low hanging branch, chirping. Hinata started whistling, copying the patterns and pitches he listened to on lazy mornings when he didn’t want to get up.

The bird perked up and looked at him questioningly as they walked under it. As Hinata continued it followed them, tweeting along and bringing a few of its friends. Hinata smiled and stopped walking while they started gathering around.

Kageyama about said something when all at once they echoed back the whistle he just made in a strange feathery serenade.

“What?” Kageyama ask nasally, eyeing the birds uneasily.

“Echo swellows. They can copy songs and sounds.” Turning smug that he knew something Kageyama didn’t, he whistle a low, sweet note that cascaded up into a high, bell-like one and gave him a shit-eating grin. Kageyama watched as the birds copied him and turned it into a full lullaby, flighty and lilting.

“Hm,” was all the taller said. He eyed a bird inching closer and closer to him, head flipping from side to side for its beady little eyes to look at him. “Keep your friends away from me.”

“Don’t like animals?”

“More like they don’t like me.”

“I wouldn’t either. You’re too scary looking.”

“Huh?” Kageyama indignantly growled. “Am not.”

“Are too.”

“How?”

Hinata rolled his eyes, finding a piece of loaf in his pocket and crumbling it into crumbs to hold out, letting a few still singing birds hop into his hand. “Well, you’re tall, and you don’t smile, and your eyes are just…”

At a loss for words, Hinata looked up at Kageyama. He was even taller at this angle, and his sharp chin was tucked into the collar of his shirt. Everything about him was dark: his clothes, his shoes, his hair and even his bags. His lips were thin and seemed to be stuck in a perpetual scowl. To top it off his voice was gruff, his tone was almost always indifference or sarcastic, and the things he said blunt.      

“My eyes?” Kageyama inquired.

His only redeeming feature had to be his eyes. Piercing, sure, but also a nice hue of blue with long lashes. “Yeah,” Hinata said absentmindedly, letting crumbs fall from his hand. “They’re pretty.”

Kageyama feel silent and Hinata looked up again, finding his face tight like a wire about to snap. Hinata swallowed.

“Uh, sorry? I didn’t think that would be a bad thing to say…”

Kageyama looked about to reply when an echo landed on his head and actually grabbed a lock of hair in its beak. And pulled.

Kageyama yelled out and swatted it away only for another to come after him, grabbing a few strands with its small talons and succeeding in ripping out a small patch of his hair.

“What the hell!” He cursed, baring his teeth and raising an open palm.

“Wait!” Hinata jumped up in front of him, frantically trying to block all the birds with his body. “They just want some hair for their nests!”

“Well they can’t have mine,” Kageyama argued, covering his head with his arms and sprinting away from the cluster of trees. Hinata bit back a laugh and threw the rest of his bread, following him.

When they put a good distance between the hair hungry birds and their heads, Kageyama glared.

“You made them do that, didn’t you?”

Hinata’s mouth dropped. “What? No! Even if I wanted to I wouldn’t know how!”

Kageyama grumbled to himself, rubbing the back of his head and continuing his glare. “No shit. You barely know how to set up a tent let alone hex a bunch of birds.”

Hinata fumed a bit but brushed it off, opting to lean back as they walked and look at where the bird had attempted to bald him. “Does it hurt?”

“I just got some hair ripped out. ‘Course it does.”

“Can you grow it back?” Hinata asked, curious. Kageyama let out a sigh.

“I possibly could, but the last time I tried it grew out white.”

Hinata pictured him with white hair and giggled into his hand. Kageyama shot him a look but said nothing.

“Whatever. It didn’t get that much of my hair anyway, I’ll let it grow out naturally. And for the record, I think you really did inadvertently hex those birds. At least a few.”

“Nah, I told you, they copy sounds.”

“And I’m telling _you_ your essence was attaching itself to them. You really should learn to center.”

“Center?”

They reached the crest of a hill just outside a dense woodland spreading out in front of them. The plains around them were wide and open, wind constantly stirring the blades of young sweet grass and wild onion stalks. Kageyama slid his bags off his back and looked tired.

“Center. As in, the opposite of what you’re doing all the time, every day.” Kageyama shook his head. “Really, can’t you see it? Your essence is everywhere around you. Are you telling me it’s too much to even channel into your staff?”      

Hinata huffed and copied him, assuming they were stopping for midday meal. “It’s everywhere? I can only feel some of it in my staff, so…”

Kageyama shrugged off his mantle and walked over, holding his finger out straight in front of Hinata’s eye line. Hinata watched, confused, as Kageyama effortlessly gathered blue at his fingertip.

Slowly he made circles with his finger in the air in front of Hinata. It swirled in blue until the edges of the glow started turning orange, as though a thousand minuscule fireflies were swarming a snowflake.

And then Kageyama’s hand was pulling an orb of orange out of the air and holding it in his palm, a smug half-smile on his face.

“Like I said, it’s everywhere.”

Hinata watched wide-eyed as he flexed his fingers and the orb shattered, embers flying around Kageyama’s face. “If you learned to center, you wouldn’t be constantly glowing and setting fires.”

Hinata turned from awestruck to ecstatic in a flash. “Teach me how to center!”

Kageyama had already sat down and unrolled his pouch of nuts and dried pork. “Not now, I’m hungry.”

“Come on!” Hinata practically yelled, startling some ravens nearby into flight. “You can’t show me that finger-essence-glowy- _gwuah_ stuff and not teach me how to use it!”

Kageyama chewed his food methodically and watched him in what Hinata thought might have been a thoughtful way. He stood back up with an outstretched hand. When Hinata shrugged he wiggled his fingers with a pointed look at his staff.

Hinata hesitated.

“It won’t take long. Don’t be a child.”

With a very mature pout Hinata gave in and observed as quietly as he could whilst Kageyama stood still. His eyes slid close and his hands gripped the body of his staff one right over the other, elbows bent at neat angles and forearms parallel to the ground and held at his center. His face was still tense in concentration as the staff started glowing with the same azure haze as before, gathering in the circle at the top.

“When you center your magic, you have better control over it than if it just runs free through you or the staff.” The blue haze started moving around the staff’s circles in tight, controlled vortexes.   

Hinata should have been thinking about how incredible it was that someone else could use his staff without getting hurt. He should have been studying how Kageyama was standing straight and still, how his forehead was slightly tilted forward.

But all Hinata could concentrate on, for some reason, were Kageyama’s hands.

Wide, calloused palms and long fingers captured his attention. There were small bandages around the ring finger on his right hand, as well as what looked like a burn or a scar at the crux of his elbow. A single gold ring rested on his left hand, which seemed relatively unblemished.

Hinata wondered about the rings and bandages. He had heard that metals, especially gold and silver, would help with arcane focusing. So it made sense that he would wear them on his hands, which were what he apparently used to cast; but what about the earrings? Sometimes Hinata would get distracted by the dangling gold plate in his right ear and stare for a while. Did it really help to have those? Or did Kageyama just like wearing them?

And if Kageyama was as good as he said, why did some of those bandages look fresh? And what was thee story behind all those tiny crescents on the joint of his thumb? 

In any case, Hinata was mesmerized by those fingers as they released his staff and handed it back. They snapped in front of his face and he flinched, jerking his gaze up to Kageyama’s face.

“Were you even listening?”

Hinata nodded vigorously. Kageyama rolled his eyes. “No you weren’t. Don’t waste my time, dumbass.”

For once Hinata did not talk back and retreated to his bag, fishing out his own food. His face red and his heart was loud in his chest, and he didn’t know why, but he didn’t want Kageyama seeing him like this.

~  

To say that Hinata was acting odd would be redundant. Despite their short time of four days of traveling together, Kageyama had decided that Hinata was just an odd person. He had never met anyone so…colorful, he supposed the word was.

“Hey,” Kageyama jabbed him in the side with his foot, waking him from the nap he had slipped into while Kageyama finished his lunch. Hinata ate ridiculously fast, taking uselessly huge bites of his food to finish in minutes.

“Wha?” Hinata all but jumped awake, drying drool on his chin and debris in his hair. His hair was an absurd mess of light red, almost orange, a color he had never seen on a person before. The fact that it was always unkempt and spiking up everywhere made him look childish.

“We’re about to pass through Ilst Forest. You know about Ilst?”

Hinata nodded and rubbed at his eyes, yawning. “Huh? Isn’t it where those malleus did a bunch of bad stuff there a long time ago?”

His nonchalant attitude irked Kageyama. “It’s ‘malefici,’ dumbass. And that ‘bad stuff’ was a summoning ritual twenty years ago that ended in demons.” Hinata’s eyes got slightly larger but he only shrugged in response.

“So?”

Kageyama considered sending a flaming pebble his way. “ _So,_ twenty years isn’t enough for the effects of a ritual that size to wear off completely. That means wisps and ghosts and fades, and those mean possession and hypnosis and illusions.”

When that one line had his eyes glazing over, Kageyama realized he didn’t know what most of those things were, and he rubbed his temple. _He never had a mentor, he’s never trained, don’t chew him out too hard._

Kageyama stood up suddenly, startling the smaller as he hovered right above him. Hinata yelped as a hand gathered the front of his tunic and easily hoisted him up, sweating as Kageyama held his face threateningly close to his.

“Listen up. When we’re in there, stay close to me. You hear something weird, ignore it.” Kageyama wasn’t sure Hinata was still breathing from how still he had gone, eyes locked on his. “You think you see someone you know, or someone who needs helps, or a friendly animal,” he let that one sink in, “you ignore them. Don’t look at them, don’t talk to them, don’t help them.”

Kageyama waited until Hinata let out a barely intelligible agreement before setting him down. The sun was just past highpoint. Kageyama reasoned if they kept moving without any stops they could make it out of Ilst before evening; it could get tricky, but there were cairns to mark the most direct path.

As they followed the road to the forest Kageyama felt his hands get slightly clammy and sent another look Hinata’s way. If he was being honest with himself, he would admit that he was worried about the shorter of the two. There were plenty of distractions for him in a desolate field, and they were about to enter a mess of old curses and rare, not always benign creatures. A brief image of Hinata getting lured in and possessed by fades made his fingers twitch.

The second they entered the forest Kageyama’s entire being _shuddered._ Even the thick-skulled, oblivious Hinata let out a gasp as he looked around.

“Um…”

“Yeah. Told you, twenty years isn’t enough.” Kageyama exhaled through his nose and flexed his shoulders. “Try to center. And stay close.”

Hinata nodded and gripped his staff with both hands, eyes wavering to every shadow and branch stirring in the breeze. Kageyama counted himself lucky that is was still early in spring; the undergrowth was still low, the tanglebushes and wildflowers still short, and the branches canopying them bone-like with only bright green buds dotting them.

Before them was a well-trodden path two carriages wide, pounded past the vegetation and into the earth below. As he remembered, a stack of stones sat to his left, followed by one in his line of sight yards ahead.

The temperature in the shade dropped drastically and Kageyama pulled his sleeves lower over his hands, seeing Hinata pull his scarf tighter. The atmosphere felt oppressive, as though a great mass of unseen eyes were tracking them, sharpening their claws. Kageyama filled his mind with thoughts of his time in a well-lit room with a plush chair under him and his fellow apprentices around him, setting their minds to whatever test or trail the maester had assigned them.

“Hey, Kageyama?” Hinata asked. He sounded timid, cautious. “So how does possession work, exactly?”

He didn’t answer at first. Usually he would love to show Hinata how dumb he was and give all the gory, hair-curling details he could remember and then some. But right now he could practically _hear_ Hinata’s essence crashing like waves against rocks and feel his worry on his skin.

“Not sure,” he drawled out.

“O-okay,” Hinata quietly responded, hands still molded to his staff.

A bird flew by. “Hey, tell me more about echo swellows.” Hinata looked as confused as Kageyama felt. Why had he just said that? For some reason he was extremely relieved when Hinata didn’t question him.

“Well, the males have red in their feathers and they like bread and—”

Kageyama only half-listened as Hinata went on, checking to make sure he was always just a step away and practicing barrier Runics on his tongue. After an hour into their trek something changed. The grass was taller, the branches thicker with unfurled leaves and air filled with the sound of critters running afoot. Kageyama smelled something like citrus and leather. Not a good sign.

“It’s warm,” Hinata marveled, unwinding his scarf a bit and taking off his hood. Kageyama raised one hand and closed his eyes, shivering again as he tested the air.

“Remember,” Kageyama said, “Stay close,” Hinata said at the same time, giving a small smile. Kageyama rolled his eyes and continued on, following the cairns.   

At one point Kageyama couldn’t feel Hinata at his side anymore and he whipped around, finding the mess of orange immediately. He was a few steps off the path and crouching down, looking at something.

“Hey, idiot! What did I just say?” He yelled, his voice echoing. “Stay—”

Something to his left. Kageyama spat out a quick word and a gauze-like barrier surrounded the both of them. Right hand up, palm facing towards it, left hand grabbing the scroll strapped to his lower back.

“Begone,” he ordered, “I—”

Kageyama froze. It was taking on the form of someone he knew, leaning against a tree with head thrown back in a self-righteous smirk.

“That’s a rude way to talk to your elder, Tobio,” it could even copy his voice.

Kageyama’s teeth ground together. “If you’re trying to manipulate any feelings of kinship,” he smiled bitterly, “you made a shit choice.”

“Oh?” Its voice wavered a bit, into a higher pitch. Slowly it grew shorter, its hair growing messier and brighter, its eyes a now familiar golden-brown. “Should I try this one’s instead?” Not-Hinata mocked, still wearing the same raggedy robes it was before. It moved closer and Kageyama spat out another spell, making green bolts grow from the ground around it and striking. It flinched and cried out.

The sound of fake Hinata’s pain made him hesitate and it smiled, batting its eyes in a manner too coy for real Hinata to manage. “But, I think it’s something far more interesting than just _kinship_ with this one, no?”

Kageyama’s mouth was dry and he was forming another attack when something brushed against his arm. “Kageyama?”

He glanced over to see Hinata, actually Hinata, watching him. “What is it?”

Kageyama looked back to where it was a moment ago to find it gone. He shushed Hinata as he extended his essence into the air around him, searching. He found nothing and let his barriers drop. He glared at Hinata.

“What were you doing?” He growled. “Why did you leave the path?”

“I’m sorry!” Hinata cowered back from him, teeth worrying his lip. “There was a strange flower over there and—and I thought I heard my little sister’s voice coming from it, I don’t know why because flowers don’t talk, not usually I think,” Hinata got out at once, stopping to breathe. “What did you see?” He asked innocently.

Kageyama popped his knuckles. “Nothing. Let’s move, we’re wasting time.” He moved in close, baring his teeth. Hinata made a noise that reminded him of a cornered mouse. “Stay. Close. Got it?”

Hinata nodded frantically.

~

Kageyama didn’t allow himself to breathe easily until they were clear of trees. The temperature had dropped down even more so as the sun was half way below the horizon. He was exhausted after constantly bending and twisting his essence to search for threats whilst keeping an eye on Hinata who, after receiving a scathing scowl, obediently stayed close and quiet for the remainder of the walk.

He forced them both to keep going until the treeline was but a cloud of black in the twilight and slumped against a boulder. He was asleep before he knew it, dreaming of birds trying to tell him something, but he couldn’t understand them.

Kageyama stirred awake to find the sky completely dark, the smell of stew filling his nose. His stomach growled and he sat up, discovering he had a sleeping skin over him and something soft behind his head.

Hinata sat across the fire from him, sipping out of one of their bowls. Wordlessly Kageyama sat up, a slight crick in his neck. Hinata poured him some stew and handed it to him. Kageyama thanked him with a nod and scarfed it down, spooning out seconds.

Kageyama reached back to grab what was behind his head and pulled out Hinata’s hooded shawl. He handed it back and noticed the tent was already up and looked stable.

“You set up camp,” Kageyama murmured, blowing over his stew. Usually Kageyama set up the tent and cooked their food while Hinata started a fire. Mostly because Kageyama actually knew how to cook and pitch a tent properly.

“Well, you were out, so, Hinata answered hesitantly, pulling out the sage green bag that held his knitting supplies.

The first time he pulled out his long knitting needles and started knotting yarn together, Kageyama had laughed with how ridiculous it looked. Hinata looked ready for him to repeat himself now, lips pursued and eyes narrowed.

But all Kageyama did was motion to the tent and murmur, “Nice job,” before settling into his meditation stance. About ten minutes in he detected a mysterious drop in the glow he was constantly feeling from Hinata and cracked open an eye to find him copying Kageyama’s stance, needles forgotten for the moment.

Any mage as sensitive to fluctuations in essence as Kageyama was would understand what he meant when he said Hinata _glowed._ It wasn’t a completely visible thing, but a combination of feeling his energy and how much of it there was, floating around his body and staff. An average look at Hinata would show halos of amber scattering wildly about, barely contained and reaching out.      

But now, with him sitting still and squeezing his eyes closed in concentration, they were at his fists and staff, perfectly centered. Intense. Warm. Golden. Sincere.

Kageyama’s eyes were fully opened and staring at his unsuspecting face. Then his cheeks grew hot and his hands were clammy again and he really, really needed to go over there and clean off their dishes right this instant.

As he crouched over a small bucket of water and their scarce dishes, he thought of the thing in the forest.

 _Something a little more interesting than_ kinship _with this one, no?_

Kageyama flushed so hard the water started boiling and he burnt himself.  

  

                 

     

   

       

 

   

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hahaha finished at 4 a.m. edited by 7 who needs sleep


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kags gets jealous. Hinata gets a little more confused. And an ibex is a type of goat. Pretty much all you need to know.

Hinata, as one might expect, was an early riser. When the sun was up he was up and ready to start his day with a face scrubbing and hair combing (though in reality he didn’t own a comb and his fingers did little to relieve the knots in his hair). He found that the best was to get ready was to whistle and sing little tunes which, when traveling alone, wasn’t an issue.

Kageyama was not an early riser. When he finally did struggle out of his roll he was pinched-faced and squinty-eyed and _definitely_ not in the mood for singing.

“Shut up,” he yawned, scratching at a spot beneath his shirt. “So annoying. Are you ever quiet?”

Hinata’s lips pulled into a pout. “I can be quiet!”

“Yeah, if I seal your mouth for a while.”

“I was quiet in Ilst, wasn’t I?”

Kageyama snorted. “Only after I—” His mouth snapped shut and he narrowly avoided biting the tip of his tongue. He hadn’t told Hinata exactly who—what—he had seen in the forest, and didn’t plan on it. The thing’s words still echoed around in his head and made him anxious when he glanced at the red head.  

Hinata tilted his head to the side. “What _did_ happen in there? After the weird flower showed up I heard you talking to someone but…”

“What did you see?” Kageyama asked evenly, folding away his roll and fiddling with the strap across his chest. Hinata shook his head.

“Nothing. You were talking to a tree.” He dropped his gaze. “And you looked…” Kageyama paused in his clean up, curious. “…Scared. Scary, too, but also kinda scared? I don’t know, it was…”

“Scary?” Kageyama supplied. Hinata pouted again but nodded nonetheless.

“Yeah. You’re the one who’s scary most of the time, so seeing you like that was weird.” He looked over at him again, eyes bright in the early sunlight. “So what _did_ you see? Was it a monster?”

Kageyama rolled his eyes at the childish notion of just ‘monsters’ and stood up, ready to go. “Sure, it was a monster. Come on, we’ve got a long way to go today.”

Hinata scrambled, hastily finishing his packing with a few choice curses thrown Kageyama’s way and his hood thrown messily over his head as he jogged to catch up.

~

Despite their rocky start to the day Kageyama climbed up into a good mood, enjoying the fresh spring air and even humoring Hinata by answering his questions.

After a comfortable silence had fallen over them, Kageyama started practicing his conjuring and summoned shapes of essence to form in his hand. Hinata watched him curiously, asked if he could try it, was harshly rebuffed and pouted for a while.

He liked watching Kageyama center and conjure and mutter Runics to himself. His essence reminded him of lightning, the way it snapped to life in his hands and seemed to climb up his arms in blue bolts. Hinata wondered if a person’s essence was the same color of their eyes and asked just that.

Kageyama’s face scrunched up like a bug was buzzing around him.

“What? No, it has nothing to do with eye color. Why would you think that?”

Hinata bit his lip. “Well…your eyes and essence are the same color, and my eyes are kind of the same color as my essence, so I just thought maybe that could be why?”

Kageyama huffed. “No one really knows why different people create different colors. Besides,” he added with a side look, “you’re eyes aren’t even gold. They’re just brown.”

For some reason that stung and Hinata shrunk back from the conversation. Kageyama frowned but said nothing as they reached the edge of the woodland and got a good look several leagues out over the plains sweeping in front of them.

To the east and far off on the horizon the land sloped down into cliffs overlooking the sea. To their right a large mountain range scratched at the sky. Hinata felt his breathing get tighter as he imagined climbing them. Dotted across the landscape in front of them were large rocks sticking out of the ground like tombstones.

Hinata remembered walking through here the first time and feeling as though the rocks were watching him as he went. From a distance they just looked like odd boulders, but up close they were massive, taller than any building Hinata had ever seen. A few of them even had what looked like carvings, but they were so worn down by the elements it could have been groves form by the rain and wind.     

“These aren’t normal rocks, are they? They’re all,” Hinata waved his arms about, searching for the right word, “ _gwaa_ and big.”

Kageyama silently nodded. “They’re called the ‘Giant’s Fingers’ after some legend.”

“Pfft,” Hinata snorted. “That’s a lame name. Why are they called that?”

“I just told you, idiot. After a legend.”

“Okay, what’s the legend, dumbass?”

“I don’t know, _dumbass_.”

“ _You’re_ the dumbass.”

About two hours later the forest was but a thin line miles behind them and they were surrounded by stones. The fields around them were mostly still bare, but in some spots were dotted with white and yellow flowers that made Kageyama sneeze every once in a while.

A bit before midday they could make out the shape of a group of people a mile or so in front of them. The sight of other people made the duo nervous yet curious as to what they were doing.

“Center,” Kageyama told him, pushing his hand inside his pockets. “The last thing we want is another flying fish attack.”

Hinata growled, hands clenching around his staff. “There aren’t even any fish here,” he muttered but did as told, mediating his breathing and closing his eyes.

Kageyama watched, something pricking him in the side as he did so. Centering was not something one learned over night. It took practice and training and, in Kageyama’s case, months of dedication. Yet here was this barely educated loud-mouth who sets his own trousers on fire and puts his shirts on backwards and can barely speak any of the Runic and _somehow_ he learns to center in _days._

It wasn’t just the centering that ate at him, but also the insane amount of power this guy had inside him. It took skill and more than an average amount of magic not only to summon a storm of scalding water from a mile deep well, but also to _reanimate_ dead fish _and_ transfigure their fins into wings. When they had first met, Kageyama had stepped out of a tea shop to the sight of chaos.

He expected a mage lashing back after being called “black hand” too many times. He expected a battle between him and an experienced summoner to stop them from hurting any other (stupid) people of the fishing village.

He did not expect to find a short, teary-eyed boy cowering on the ground with his face in the mud.

Kageyama became more irritated the more he simmered over it. Hinata practically breathed out essence. Every word he said, each thought he had, anything he felt reached out and touched the world around them effortlessly. And others, like Kageyama, had to train and hope and cry over their limitations. It was a world where Hinata could sing and Kageyama only whisper.

The group turned out to be a caravan, wagons hooked up to oxen and a single ibex carrying a wiry man who was holding a bow. As they approached a man almost as tall as Kageyama with strange, yellow hair and jewelry in his ears approached them.

Kageyama bowed first, whapping Hinata on the arm when he hesitated in doing so. The other man smiled and bowed back, obviously relieved by their lack of animosity.

“You two heading west?”

Kageyama nodded curtly. “Yes. Nakka City. And your group?”

“Oh, the same, eventually. We’ve got a few good spots to set up camp between here and Nakka, except,” he gestured for them to follow him and they did so, Hinata’s mouth falling open. “I have no idea what to do here,” he explained honestly, rubbing his head.

The ground in front of them was split into a massive canyon. The other side was almost half a mile away, and when Hinata took a cautious step forward to peek over the edge the bottom was so far down the river found there was black. His head spun and he scrambled back, making the yellow-haired man laugh.

“Quite a ways down, innit?”

Hinata nodded, swallowing hard and noticing the bridge just to their left. Or what was left of the bridge, as even though the thick support beams still ran from one edge to another, something had smashed into the tresses hanging above and somehow smashed a gaping wound in the bridge’s floor itself. Dried blood crusted the edges of the smashed wood.

The man gave them a sheepish grin. “You two look like mages, am I wrong? Suppose you help us out, and we help you out?”

Kageyama didn’t answer and instead took a few steps more to view the bridge closer. The caravan leader looked a bit put off by his silence.

“Uh, we’ll help!” Hinata said for Kageyama, eyeing the taller’s back as his hand extended forward in a familiar gesture. “I mean, I’m not sure how, but Kageyama will think of something.”

The man grunted, crossing his arms. “Kageyama, huh? Never heard that name before.”

“Oh, I’m Hinata, by the way! Pleased to meet you.”

“Name’s Ukai, but call me Keishin.”

“Okay!” Hinata nodded, falling silent as he watched Kageyama. “I wonder what left that blood. There’s so much…and on a bridge across a huge canyon? It would’ve had to be flying, or…or…” His eyes grew wide as he recognized the claw marks and the slight tinge of blue found in the blood.

A great chittering echoed off the walls of the canyon and everyone went quiet.

“What was—”

“Kageyama!”

Hinata shot forward, grabbing the strap on his back and pulling him away as a great shape surged up, blotting out the sun for a second. The two fell back and a woman in the group screamed as a giant, scaly thing with a feathered tail landed yards away from the caravan, hissing and spitting.

“A wyvern,” Hinata breathed out, heart racing. Kageyama seemed stuck half way off the ground, face frozen. Bright green scales flashed in the sunlight, its left side coated in blood. In its left side was a spike trap, a horrible thing Hinata had run into far too often when encountering poachers and hunters. It was lodged in it side, and Hinata reasoned its scales were the only thing stopping the trap from puncturing any vital organs. Its foxlike snout snarled and the feathers on the crest of its head raised and spread, long whiskers quivering. Its eyes, fierce and gold, were narrowed into slits and the talons a jade green.

Hinata would be ecstatic if it wasn’t getting ready to lunge forward.

In a blink Kageyama was back, stance wide and hand already crackling with blue, a scroll unrolling in his left hand.

“No, wait!” Hinata nearly yelled. He glanced back at the caravan, finding the man on the ibex knocking an arrow and Keishin unsheathing his sword.

“Move, dumbass!” Kageyama yelled, voice cracking as the wyvern shook its head and let out a screech that hurt all their ears.

“No!” Hinata shouted again, flinging his bag off to the side and standing between Kageyama and the heaving wyvern. Without warning he slammed his staff into the ground and shouted one Runic that he knew by heart: “Fire!”

A flame bloomed, not red but a magnificent violet that twisted into a writhing silhouette that mirrored the wyvern across from it. The fire wyvern sputtered embers and lashed its tail, circling the live wyvern.

Kageyama and the rest of the caravan held their breath as the injured wyvern eyed it carefully, focus on the humans forgotten. The fire crawled towards it, slowly, keeping its distance and gingerly sweeping its blazing tail over the wyvern. To everyone’s surprise, a purr started up and its feathers lowered.

Kageyama watched Hinata. His eyes open but focused, hands on his staff, his entire being like a candle against the brown fields. When the fire wyvern was pressed up against the other completely, its purr was so strong it seemed to shake the air.

Hinata kept his staff up and started walking forward.

Kageyama’s hand shot out to stop him and he yelped, drawing it back in a snap. His hand was burned. Hinata was suddenly so hot it had left a red, swollen mark on his hand.

And then Hinata completely caught fire.

Kageyama stopped breathing. Instantly he formed a spell on his tongue: “Fire, Skin, Ice.” His essence flared and engulfed Hinata. The fire grew blue for a moment before Kageyama’s efforts were dispelled, the flames ignoring his spell.  

Hinata wasn’t screaming, or panicking or rolling on the ground like one on fire would do. He was a walking mass of fire that the wyvern took little notice of as he leaned down and brushed his free hand against its side, which Kageyama could now see was bloody and injured.

Hinata touched the spike and the wyvern hissed, drawing back. The fire wyvern died out and now it was just Hinata staring into its eyes. The fire on him turned magenta and the wyvern responded by softly cooing.

Hinata copied its sounds and knelt down, the chain keeping the trap together snapping apart with a spark. Gently, as gently as he could, he withdrew the spike and threw it over the side of the canyon. Hinata stared at the wound in front of him and let the burning essence on him die out. The wyvern was no longer bristling and just laid on its uninjured side, eyes watching Hinata curiously.

“Kageyama?” Hinata asked, a hand resting over the still-bleeding wound. Kageyama remembered breathing was important and took a rattling breath. He slowly walked over. The wyvern stirred and was looking at him now.

Kageyama paused, staring back. “It won’t hurt you,” Hinata murmured, running his fingers over the small spikes on its spine. Kageyama had his doubts but felt better when he was standing next to Hinata, taking a closer look at the beast.

He had never seen a wyvern before, and for good reason; their blood, bones, and eyes were used in elite potion brewing, and their scales went into armor crafting. Kageyama’s eyes were drawn to the strange bundle of flesh running from its forearms to the hind legs.

“Can you help it?” Hinata asked. Kageyama nodded and performed a quick heal, easily closing the wound.

“Are those..?” He gestured towards the folds as the wyvern stood and shook itself. Hinata grinned.

“Yep.” The wyvern gave a soft growl and leapt off the cliff, legs extending as the folds of skin expanded like short wings. “A gliding wyvern.”

The caravan cheered.

~

A quick spell fixed the bridge (with a little help by Hinata) and the group crossed it, eyeing the seemingly bottomless canyon warily for anymore gliding wyverns swooping out of the air. Keishin thanked them profusely and offered them a night at the camp with food and a few supplies.

Kageyama waited until evening came to corner Hinata.

“You said you’d never been trained,” he growled. Hinata looked confused.

“Yeah..?”

Kageyama’s hands clenched into fists. His throat was tightening up. “Liar.”

“Hah?”

Kageyama grabbed him by the scruff and pulled Hinata’s face up his own. “Liar,” he seethed. “You can already center. You conjured a perfect elemental mirror. And how the fuck did you know how to tame that thing?”

“I’m not lying!” Hinata bit back, pushing him off. “ _You_ taught me how to center, dumbass! And what’s an elemental mirror?”

Kageyama just glared at him, fury rising in his stomach. It wasn’t fair. It just wasn’t fair that Hinata could pull out a stunt that took Kageyama years to learn with no idea he was doing it.

“And I didn’t _tame_ a wyvern,” Hinata continued when Kageyama didn’t answer. “They’re impossible to tame. But I knew that they liked fire and it calmed them, so I just imagined one made of—gwaa!”

With no warning a small lizard-shaped flame sprung up and started running around Hinata’s feet. The small red head started panicking and attempted to dispel it; the lizard grew larger and started heading for the group, breathing out ash.

With a flick of his hand Kageyama wiped it out as though he threw dirt over it. Hinata dusted off his singed trousers and sighed. “Damn it. And I was feeling so cool about earlier…” he whined. Kageyama grunted, expression inscrutable. Hinata poked his cheek. “Hey, what are you getting all huffy about anyway? We helped a wyvern and a whole bunch of people and now they’re feeding us!”

Kageyama swatted away his hand. “I guess.” He had cooled down now, appreciating the cool wind on his face. “You didn’t seemed very scared,” Kageyama said after a moment. Hinata’s brow twisted in confusion before he figured they were still talking about the wyvern. “You stood right in front of it.”

“Well, it was just hurt and scared. I didn’t want to kill it. It was pretty, wasn’t it?” Hinata asked, his voice taking on a dreamy state. “Its scales were all shiny and those feathers looked really soft…”

As he babbled on Kageyama realized that Hinata called a lot of things—mostly animals—“pretty”. Even those that didn’t deserve to be called such, like the ugly brown fish they saw in the rivers and scraggly crows that followed them sometimes; those were called pretty by Hinata.

Kageyama wondered if Hinata had actually meant he had pretty eyes, or if that was just mindless chatter. He was prone to that. Hinata was still talking about gliding wyverns and their eating habits when Kageyama angled his head a bit to get a look at his face.

Hinata faltered. The last ray of sunlight washed Hinata’s face in a rosy hue. Kageyama nodded, mostly to himself.

“I guess your eyes are kind of gold,” he said.

“Wha..?” Hinata trailed off as Kageyama simply walked off without explanation. Hinata reasoned that he felt flustered because Kageyama had interrupted him to say something weird, not because for a split second his face had been unusually close to his.

“Stupid Kageyama,” Hinata muttered, rejoining the group back at the fire.  

  

 

  

  

  

 

  

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Runic: Once an extensive language of magic that was lost after a large scale war. Mages use words and phrases to further shape their spells. Most only know a few words, but a few have almost an entire alphabet.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hinata's cute and Kageyama gets angry about it.

Daichi swallowed down the nerves gathering in his throat as he walked towards the high priestess’ calling hall. It was unusual for her to call two high-ranking mages such as Asahi and himself straight to her chambers, much less the day before their Winter’s End ceremony when they should be out performing rites and leading prayers for the worried civilians.

He had heard the whisperings, of course. Murmurs on the wind about a rogue mage with the power of a demon and a speller without an insignia, wandering from town to town.

The Priesthood was the people’s defense and access to magical affairs, and anything that occurred in Karasun was cause for concern to the high priestess and her council. They investigated disturbances, purified diseased lands and sealed away malicious spirits.

They did not take kindly to rogue mages that could threaten the delicate balance between magic and man.

Asahi and Daichi did not speak as they approached the doors; they were comfortable in silence, and usually one knew what the other was thinking, as was the case with life-long friendships. The large, ornate doors opened to show a dais raised in the center of a modestly decorated room with windows letting in the dawn’s rays.

Around the dais were the priestess’ council, and at the end of the dais was where she sat.

Daichi and Asahi bowed in unison. “My Lady Yui.”

High Priestess Yui sat calmly on a cushioned seat, headdress covering her shiny hair and robes splaying out onto the ground like wings. The Priesthood’s crest hung around her neck and she grasped the maester’s staff in her hand. It was merely decorative, of course, a symbol of her status.

“Cleric Daichi. Sage Asahi. Please approach me.”

They stood from their bows, backs straight and arms at their sides.

“I’m sure you’ve heard rumors of a strange mage wandering the Karasun southlands. Unfortunately, I’m afraid they are true.” She swept her hand to the woman sitting next to her. “My cleric, your report?”

“This mage was first spotted two years ago in the Miyagi hold, and since then our agents have reported sighting him at various towns. He appears to have no patterns or destination to speak of, and he is quick to keep moving.”

Daichi tilted his head. “If he is so mobile, how have we tracked him down?”

“Recently there was an incident in a small fishing village in the east. We have gathered that a few locals were…insistent in their attempts to force this mage out of the village. There was physical contact, and, according to one villager, ‘that black hand made the well explode and my trout dinner started biting at me’.”

Everyone in the room cringed at “black hand.”

“Was anyone injured?” Asahi immediately asked.

The cleric gave a small nod. “A few minor injuries, but no fatalities. Apparently, another mage, this unidentified speller, stepped in and ceased all misconduct.”

“Are they now traveling together?”

“We believe so, yes. The village’s watchmen said they headed farther south. Although…”

Lady Yui resituated on her seat. “Yes?”

“He did say that it didn’t look as though they were friends. Or even _friendly_ towards one another. The watchman said the speller called back the spell and they appeared to be arguing—not fighting, but arguing—when the villagers forced them out.”

Daichi made a small noise in his throat. “Is this the same mage that caused the firework debacle a year ago in Shimizu?”

“We believe so, yes.”

Asahi and Daichi shared a look. “What do you ask of us, My Lady?”

“This mage worries me. He shows no affiliation to any sect, and appears to have less training than a rabid wolf. And this speller…who is he? Where did he come from? And what are these two after? We have enough trouble maintaining our peace with Nek Oma and Aoja without allowing potential threats to roam our home unsupervised.”

Lady Yui stood. “You two are among my most trusted colleagues. If anyone can find and contain these two, it is you.”

“You think they will come willingly?” Daichi asked, doubtful.

Yui smiled. “I share your suspicions, cleric. No, I have found that even the most untamed beasts have a goal in mind. That being said, I have had my associates contact a craftblade by the name of Nishinoya.”

Asahi perked up. “I have heard of him. He was said to take down a clan of ogres in the north by his lonesome.”

“He came with strong references. I would like to resolve this matter peacefully,” Lady Yui’s honey eyes glinted, “but I refuse to lose anyone to this rogue. Nishinoya has agreed to meet you both at the shrine of Isz, just outside the city’s gates. You leave on the morrow.”

Daichi and Asahi bowed again. “Of course, Lady Yui.”

“And please,” her voice grew soft. “Show care with these two. This mage may be the most dangerous threat we have seen in years.”

~

Hinata screamed as the spider dropped down onto his cheek.    

A moment ago he had opened his eye, yawning and rubbing his face. Vision bleary, he watched the shadows of branches dancing against the skin of his tent until one shadow seemed to be getting larger and larger. He stared until his vision cleared and…

“You idiot,” Kageyama spat as they huddled by the river, washing out his cloak. Hinata pouted nearby, giving half-hearted apologies. It wasn’t _his_ fault that Keishin’s soup was so delicious that he had to have seconds until he was stuffed and sleepy and fell asleep on top of his roll. And he didn’t think it was a big deal to leave the half-full bowl between he and Kageyama in a spot perfect for someone’s— _anyone’s_ —foot to kick it over in surprise.

Well, maybe it was a tiny bit his fault.  

“I said sorry,” Hinata muttered as he filled up his drinking skin.

Kageyama grunted, still irritated, but stayed quiet. Hinata was a bit surprised; Kageyama wasn’t the type to just let things go, especially when they were directly—or even moderately—Hinata’s fault. But Hinata knew how to take a stroke of luck with grace and clapped him on the arm.

“Hey, why don’t we see if we can trade anything with Keishin’s group? It’s starting to get warmer out, and we could use some new clothes, right?”

Kageyama hummed thoughtfully. “That’s actually a good idea.” His face scrunched up. “Wait, if you want to buy new clothes, then what have you been knitting all this time?”

Hinata blinked and then gave a small, bashful smile. “Oh, uh, it’s a scarf.”

“But…you already have a scarf?”

“Yeah, I know,” Hinata scratched at his head, cheeks dusted in pink. “I, uh…”

Kageyama’s eye twitched. “Yeah? _What?”_

“I like to knit, so…even when I don’t need anything I just make scarves because they’re the first thing my mother taught me.” His eyes glazed over as he looked far off into the distance. “And when she was busy I taught Natsu, and we had days were we would just sit in her tree house and knit and watch the pigmies. And even if I don’t need a scarf I can always find someone who does, so they never go to waste.”

As Kageyama watched him, his body froze. His hands grew clammy the instance his ears grew hot and his chest felt full, brimming with some strange heat he’d never felt before. As Hinata finished his impromptu soliloquy with that ridiculously bright smile, his gut dropped and he felt the urge to run away.

And he acted on it.

“Uh—Keishin—bad wheel—stupid cart, I gotta—put up our tent!” Kageyama sputtered out, stalking away.   

The rest of the day passed by slowly, like wading through honey. The pair managed to trade a few misplaced things and some shiny feathers Hinata had a tendency to hoard for new tops and supplies.

At their next stop Hinata eagerly changed out of his hooded cloak and heavy wool top for the new tunic, smiling at the leaf pattern that had obviously been carefully sewn into the fabric. He huffed as he struggled to fit his unneeded cold wear into his already bursting bag.  

“What are you doing?” Kageyama asked, watching him with no sympathy. Not surprisingly, the taller of the two had chosen a simple woven tunic with sleeves he could hike up to his elbows. Dark, as with the rest of his attire.

“Trying to pack this?” Hinata threw back at him incredulously. “What else would I be doing?”

“You don’t know how to shrink,” Kageyama didn’t ask. At this point he knew if he asked Hinata about anything technical would be a surefire “no.” Hinata blinked up at him.

“Shrink? Like, you can make my stuff smaller?” Something clicked in his head. “Is that why you have so many tiny bags instead of bigger ones like mine? You shrink everything?”

Kageyama stared, mouth tilting down. “Where do you think I put my sleeping roll every morning?”

Hinata blew out his cheeks. It wasn’t like he and Kageyama were glued to each other all morning. Hinata was busy cleaning the dishes while Kageyama put up the tent—ah. The tent.

“You mean you could shrink stuff all this time and still made me carry around the tent?” Hinata accused. Kageyama looked shocked by the outburst but quickly recovered.

“Well, I forgot about it.”

“You _forgot_?!”

“I do it every day, it’s second nature. I don’t think about it—”

“What about that time I fell down that hill with the pricklethorn bushes and it got snagged and I couldn’t get up until you came to help? You had to lift me off the ground like some damsel in distress!”

Kageyama flushed hard. “That was _your_ fault, idiot!”

Hinata’s shackles were up and he was ready to dig in when he took in Kageyama’s red face. That was happening more and more, he noticed. A warm tingling at the base of his spine drew his temper back and he kicked at his overflowing bag.

“So, you gonna show me how to shrink or what?”

It didn’t take long to accomplish. Hinata was a faster learner than Kageyama would like to admit and most of the time was spent filled with their bickering. It was cut off by Keishin as the caravan leader caught up with them.

“So, Kageyama. Hinata. You said you were headed to Nakka?” They nodded, Hinata still folding the now tiny tent into his knapsack. Keishin gave a sly grin, tapping a finger to his chin. “You wouldn’t happen to be hoping to meet Maester Ukai, would you?”

Hinata looked to Kageyama, who nodded and answered. “Yes. This guy,” he pointed a finger at his shorter companion, “desperately needs help. He can’t control his magic worth shit.”

“Hey!” Hinata pouted, smacking his hand away. “I’ve gotten better!”

“Better than horrible is still bad.”

“You know,” Keishin interjected loudly, sensing the oncoming argument, “my grandfather isn’t taking apprentices anymore. He may not offer you more than well-meaning advice when you get there.”

The two fixed him with identical blank stares before Hinata perked up. “Maester Ukai is your grandfather?!”

Ukai sighed and gave a smile. “Yeah. I told you my name was Ukai, right?”

“What?” Kageyama directed at Hinata accusingly.

“Oh, yeah! It was just before the wyvern showed up!”

“You idiot, don’t forget things like that!”

Hinata bristled. “There was a wyvern right next to you! Sorry I forgot something like that when you almost became wyrm bait!”

Keishin watched with growing amusement. _How have these two survived each other?_ “Well, just thought I’d warn you. If you tell him how you helped us out he might give you a few pointers, but don’t expect anything to big.”

The man on the ibex gave a call and the caravan started moving again, the duo keeping pace with Keishin.

“The last I checked Maester Ukai had a small class of apprentices under him,” Kageyama commented. “What happened to them?”

Keishin fiddled with one of the piercings in his ear. “Nothing. They’re alive and well under other teachers. It’s my grandfather’s health that’s the problem.” The older man looked off at the horizon. “People seem to forget that despite his strength he’s still over 70 years old.”

“That old?!” Hinata exclaimed. Keishin grinned.

“Oh, believe me, he can still hand you your ass on a magicked plate. But always having pupils to look after started weighing on him.”

Kageyama hummed, watching Hinata out of the corner of his eye. If they got to Nakka and Ukai rejected any teachings to Hinata, what then? Would they go on just roaming the countryside together? Kageyama had a plan, and having Hinata around was not a part of that plan. In fact, one might consider him a hindrance to his plan. 

However, the idea of continuing on with Hinata didn’t strike him as unpleasant, and he wondered again about the amulet hanging around his neck. He knew that shape, that metal. Kageyama had made an assumption, which he knew he shouldn’t have done; but the trail he was following was growing cold, and Hinata’s necklace could prove useful.

“Kageyama?”

He realized Hinata and Keishin had been talking and blinked down at him. “What.”

Hinata laughed, and Kageyama wondered if he could bottle up the sound. “Nothing.”

A hindrance to his plans, indeed.

~

“We’re going this way?” Hinata asked hesitantly. It was nearly dusk, and the mountains loomed over them like silent giants. The caravan had set up camp just next to one of the larger stones that dotted the landscape.

“The monoliths messing with you?” Keishin asked, pouring some stew over his rice. “Don’t worry about it. They do that to everyone.”

“What?” Hinata asked, confused. “No, I mean we have to go through a cave tomorrow, right?”

“Netta’s Pass,” Keishin got out around his food. “We’ll get through easily enough. Takeda’s a pro at navigating caves.”

Hinata murmured something and dug into his stew, eyes trained on the mountains. Kageyama raised an eyebrow but said nothing until Keishin excused himself.

“You got a problem with caves?”

Hinata legitimately frowned, a sight Kageyama wasn’t used to. “No.”

“Liar.”

Hinata didn’t reply and engrossed himself in his food. Kageyama felt his eye twitch, the feeling of being ignored not sitting too well in his stomach. He set down his empty bowl and crossed his legs. For a few minutes he internally argued with himself until:

“I can try to teach you resonance, if you want.”   

Hinata finally looked up at him, eyes curious already. “Residence?”

_“Resonance,”_ Kageyama corrected. “Expanding and expelling your essence to the area around you, then calling it back to get a read or your environment.”

“That seems dangerous,” Hinata said skeptically.

“It can be,” Kageyama answered. “Like everything with magic, it all depends on how you use it. With essence like yours, you could cause a cave in.” He watched, fascinated, as Hinata’s face turned snow white. “ _Or,”_ he rushed out, “prevent a cave in and immediately locate the exit.”

Hinata let out a deep breath. “You think I could do it?”

Kageyama blinked slowly. He remembered the flaming wyvern Hinata had conjured up with professional skill and nodded. “Maybe not right away. But with me by your side, you won’t lose control.” For some reason his throat tightened up. “As long as I’m here—”

“Hey guys!” Keishin waved them over. “We’re making camp now to get an early start tomorrow.”

“Okay!” Hinata called back, gathering his and Kageyama’s bowls. He scampered off to help the lady sitting over the bucket of bubbly water, who smiled and thanked him for his help.

Kageyama’s eyes watched him relentlessly, teeth worrying the inside of his cheek.

_As long as I’m here, you’re invincible._    

 

 

        

 


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Caves don't sit well with Hinata. For reasons.

Hinata felt his throat tightening as the caravan approached the cave. On either side of them the mountains arched up and over them, skimming the clouds. A single flock of blackbirds passed overhead, cawing. He swallowed loudly.

“It’s just a cave,” Kageyama commented, monotone and unimpressed. He sounded a hundred meters away and his voice hardly registered to Hinata’s ears, almost as if he was in a jar. His head felt fuzzy and light, and he wondered if he had feathers stuck in his ears or something.

“Hey,” Kageyama tapped him non-too lightly on the shoulder and Hinata started.

“Y-yeah?”

At times like this Hinata knew what it was like to be a rodent under the scrutiny of a hawk. Kageyama’s eyes were sharp and focused as he stared, and Hinata was unsure if what he was feeling was truly fight or flight, or something else entirely. He felt pinned when the taller did this calculating, searching stare, and his stomach did strange twists and flips as he waited.

“Remember,” Kageyama opened his mouth before quickly shutting it, grimacing. He scratched at his head, tearing his eyes away from his partner and towards the cave. “Uh. Resonance. Remember?”

“Oh.” Hinata fiddled with his staff as Keishin, at the front, started double checking his carts’ wheels and speaking to each member. Kageyama sounded like he was holding something in, but Hinata was somewhat afraid to find out what. “Right. Resonance.”

All that morning Kageyama had been demonstrating exactly what resonance was and how to use it, though Hinata didn’t really understand any of the technical jargon he kept using. It was intimidating, feeling Kageyama’s essence spread out to the world around them like an echo. It was…intimate, almost, and for a moment Hinata felt overwhelmed by _Kageyama_ everywhere, on the ground, in the air, coating the rocks around them.

The idea that his own essence could do that was terrifying. What if he lost control and set the ground on fire or turned the rocks to Juggafiis or—

“What?” Kageyama asked, one eyebrow raised. “What the hell is a Juggafii?”

Hinata slapped his hands over his mouth, realizing he had been muttering to himself. How much had he said? “Uh, they’re small little ferrets, but they have an extra tail and they like to steal people’s shiny things and, uh, once I magicked one to turn three times its usual size and it stole someone’s entire stove and I had to pay for it and that’s when I started eating roasted acorns because I couldn’t buy actual food and they were easy to find and Kageyama I don’t think I can go in that cave.”

He said that at such an impressive speed that it took Kageyama a few seconds to process it all while Hinata gulped for air, suddenly sweating up a storm. Now Kageyama thought he was even weaker than he already was, what kind of a baby was afraid of caves?

Keishin whistled and the group started moving forward, the duo located at the back. Hinata felt rooted to the spot.

“Listen. Hinata,” Kageyama cleared his throat. “We’re not going to get lost. And I’ll make sure nothing happens. To anyone. Okay?”

Hinata remained stalk still and pale, the group disappearing into the cave’s opening. Like sheep walking into a serpent’s mouth, so he thought. Kageyama made an aggravated noise and grabbed his right hand.

“Here,” he nearly hissed, calling a small orb of light in Hinata’s palm. The foreign feeling on his hand seemed to snap him out of his trance and he stared at it. “Try and sustain it yourself,” Kageyama encouraged lowly, his hand still hovering over Hinata’s.

The shorter willed his focus to his hand and the light went from a chilling blue to a molten gold. For a split second Kageyama was visibly impressed until he regained his mask and leaned away. Hinata felt a bit of the tension leave him as he wiggled his fingers, making the light grow brighter and dimmer as he willed.

“There. No darkness anymore, right? You better?”

Hinata nodded, giving a small smile. “Thanks, Kageyama.”

The taller grimaced again and hastily muttered a “Let’s go” before following the group. Hinata let himself focus on the orb in his hand as they entered.

It was cooler in here, and he shivered harshly. Almost instantly Kageyama suggested he wrap his scarf tighter.

“Aren’t you cold?” Hinata asked, sticking close to his side. He would never tell anyone in a million years that being right by Kageyama’s impressive height was comforting in this dark, dank cave.

Kageyama shrugged and grunted, signaling a “no.”

Hinata didn’t speak even as the rest of the caravan chattered among themselves, content with their leader and the light from their torches. 

Hinata didn’t like anything about caves. The fact that they were so dark, and deep and how the sky was nowhere to be found; even as he tried to keep his mind off of it, he could nearly _feel_ the earth above their heads as they walked.

At one point he _swore_ he felt the ground around them shake and he froze with a whimper, the spark in his hand extinguished. His feet rooted to the ground, his ears closing up and throat constricting until he could barely breathe.

He felt a pressure on his hand and a warmth spreading up his arm. Someone was talking to him but it was so, so _dark_ and where was the sky? Where was the sun and the stars? He was stuck in this darkness, it had always been inside him and now it was _outside him_ for everyone to see.  

Another quake. He cried out and fell, crouching with his head between his knees. What if they all died right now because of _him?_ What if the stalactites fell and Kageyama was standing under it and then he was _gone?_

Hands were on him. On his arm, tracing up to his shoulder, splayed out on his neck. Something like water washed over him and he felt his breath coming easier.

He could hear voices. One stood out compared to the rest.

“Just give us a few minutes. I’ll have him ready to go.”

The voice moved to his ear, low and insistent. “Hinata, look.” Hinata whimpered again and shook his head, pulling at his hair with his free hand. He couldn’t open his eyes and look at that darkness again. He could see Kageyama’s face scrunched up in disgust like so many others’, repulsed by his weakness, by the darkness inside him that he tried to keep at bay. Hands tugged his face up and held his cheeks steady. _“Hinata.”_

He opened his eyes. Kageyama was right in front of him, on his knees. His face was like nothing Hinata had ever seen before; open and tender as he looked down at the smaller mage, his mouth in a taut, worried line. His eyes were locked on Hinata’s, blue and bright and blazing their way into his mind. There was red on his cheeks, and they were so close Hinata could see how thick and long his lashes were, unfairly pretty.

Kageyama was pretty. He was pretty and kind and always watching Hinata with this _look._ Hinata shivered and found himself nuzzling into Kageyama’s wide, calloused hands, the feeling of his skin on his own bringing him back to earth.

They didn’t speak as Kageyama brushed his thumb gingerly under his ear, the other hand finding his and holding it tight. They stood, and a jolt ran through the both of them where their hands met. 

_“I’m here,”_ Kageyama’s mouth didn’t move, but Hinata heard it all the same. _“Don’t worry. Don’t make that face. I’m here.”_

~

The moment they saw daylight at the end of a tunnel Hinata let out an excited cry and ran, dragging Kageyama with him. The taller wasn’t complaining even as the other whooped and hollered at the sunset, a joyous smile on his face.

Hinata let go of Kageyama’s hand to flop onto the ground, staring up at the pinkish orange sky and creamy clouds. He heard a huff of laughter and the soft thud of impact as Kageyama flopped down next to him.

“Good to have you back,” Kageyama said almost grudgingly, like it was killing him to do so. Hinata blushed, his fingers still burning from being entwined with his for hours of travel.

“Yeah. Sorry about that.”

An arm bumped his and stayed there. “’S fine. But next time you’re about to freak out, let me know.”

His tone wasn’t instigating or biting or his normal monotone, and Hinata let his arm press harder against his, his heart thudding in his ears.

It jumped into his throat when Kageyama’s pinky overlapped his almost questioningly. Hinata licked his lips and moved his hand; Kageyama act as if he had been burned, turning away and starting to get up.

Hinata quickly grabbed his hand and locked their fingers, praying his hand wasn’t too sweaty. He heard Kageyama clear his throat and looked over to see a very red pair of ears. Hinata wanted to laugh, but somehow that seemed too loud for the moment and just giggled.

Kageyama’s hand tightened and Hinata smiled wordlessly up at the sky.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know its short im sorry but im really bad at writing super fluffy things so this took a lot out of me. next chapter is gonna be a bit more Daichi and Co. and some lovely ladies are going to make an appearance


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